Video: Baseball ump who saved woman speaks out

Closed captioning of: Baseball ump who saved woman speaks out

>>this week another call made by
jim joyce
is getting attention, one of
life and death
. when joyce showed up for work monday, he saw
jayne
powers, a longtime diamondbacks employee collapse. he quickly jumped into action and began performing
cpr
until an ambulance took her to the hospital. joyce was honored for his actions wednesday night. he's with us along with
jayne
powers. good morning to both of you.

>>good morning, matt.

>>good morning.

>>jayne
, how do you feel? i know you were released from the hospital, i believe, just a day or so ago. how are you doing?

>>i'm a little sore but i'm glad i'm sitting here talk you to you.

>>i can imagine. you went to work, told some friends at work you weren't feeling too well. do you remember what happened next?

>>i remember telling my friend, it was during our preshift meeting before we were going out to the stadium. i told her, i said i wasn't feeling well. i said if i pass out -- that's all i remember. i remember my friend saying, does anybody know
cpr
. does anybody know
cpr
. i had a look of stress on my face, obviously, because i was hearing everything but nobody was responding. and then
jim
was walking down the tunnel right where i was, and all of a sudden he came out of nowhere and he said, i know
cpr
and he took over from there.

>>jim
, had you ever performed
cpr
in an emergency situation before?

>>just one time, matt, almost 30 years ago.

>>did it kick in as instinct. i know you learned it as a lifeguard when you were 16. did it just kick in?

>>yes, it did. it was nothing more than in steenextinct -- instinct. i knew
jayne
was in trouble. when i checked her vitals, there was no pulse. i knew she was in a lot of trouble at that particular time. literally it was instinct that took over.

>>just like we hear all the time, you did
cpr
to the song staying alive.

>>i said it in my head. i don't know if i was saying it out live. i know it was in my head. that's the new
cpr
, that's the rhythm you do the chest compression to.

>>you were rushed to the hospital. do you have any idea how long you did
cpr
, by the way?

>>we kind of figured it was probably somewhere between four and five, maybe six minutes.

>>jayne
you got rushed to the hospital. they im planted a pacemaker. was this a
heart attack
? was this a seizure? what have they told you?

>>no. i went into
cardiac arrest
. i wasn't really a seizure. it was an erratic heartbeat that was malfunctioning in my heart, which caused me to go into
cardiac arrest
.

>>jim
, i know you had the chance to go to the hospital and visit with
jayne
. what was that like for you?

>>i think it was pretty emotional for all of us involved. my wife kay was with me and
jayne
's
brother john
was there. i said a couple words and then the emotions just took over. i think it was maybe 30 seconds of downtime after that, because we all had to take a couple deep breaths and just catch ourselves.

>>jayne
, we are so happy you're okay. we're happy
jim
was walking down that hallway. it's another example. umpires are often the
unsung heroes
of
major league baseball
and now for a completely different reason.
jim
, it's good to have you in the headlines for all the right reasons.

>>thank you, matt. there's also one thing i like to convey to everybody out there,
cpr
can be learned by anybody and it only takes one time. even if you never use it again but that one time, it might be the most important time in somebody's life.

>>absolutely well said.
jim
, thank you so much.
jayne
, continued recovery to you.

A veteran umpire widely known for a botched call that cost a major league pitcher a perfect game is now getting attention for making the right call — one that saved the life of a ballpark worker — and used it Friday to call attention to the importance of knowing CPR.

“I said, ‘So if I pass out,’ and that’s all I remember,” she told Lauer. She recalls people around her calling for help, but nobody responding.

“And then Jim was walking down the tunnel, right where I was, and all of a sudden he came out of nowhere, and he said, ‘I know CPR,’ and he took over from there,” said Powers, who was released from the hospital Thursday after getting a pacemaker installed.

Joyce learned CPR as a lifeguard in his youth, and used it once before about 30 years ago, but he said he had no problem remembering what to do when he saw Powers crumpled on the ground.

Speaking to Lauer from Chicago during a joint interview with Powers, he said: “It was nothing more than instinct. I knew that Janie was in trouble. When I checked her vitals, she wasn’t breathing, and there was no pulse, and I knew she was in a lot of trouble at that particular time. And literally, it was just instinct that took over.”

Joyce and his wife later visited Powers in the hospital to check on her progress.

“I said a couple of words and then the emotions just took over,” he said. “I think it was maybe 30 seconds of down time after that because we had to just take a couple of deep breaths and just catch ourselves.”

Joyce last drew national attention two years ago for a call that cost Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga a perfect game. Joyce admitted blowing the call the next day, and Galarraga accepted his apology with a handshake.

Joyce took advantage of his newest round of fame to draw attention to the importance of learning CPR.

“CPR can be learned by everybody,” he said. “It only takes one time. Even if you never use it again but that one time, it might be the most important time in somebody’s life.”